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Thinking of original recipes, putting together indoor light lamps, photographing every step of the cooking process, editing photos, and coming up witticisms about pictures of my food seems like absolute drudgery these days.

I have also been feeling exceptionally uninspired lately.

The thing is I still like to read blogs, peruse cookbooks, shop for unique ingredients, put together meal plans, try new recipes, find fun workouts, learn about nutrition, holistic health, the human body, and talk about all things vegan.

In fact, I could spend a whole weekend doing those things.

I could even spend a whole cold, dreary, gray January weekend, curled up in my favorite fleece blanket putting together a list of all my favorite food, health, and wellness things.

I could spend the better part of a day paging through any and all cookbooks, but when I need some meal planning help, it’s a short list:

Veganomican

by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

If you’re making your foray into vegan cooking, and you can only afford one cookbook, this is the one to buy. It has everything you will ever need to be able to cook wholesome and delicious vegan food for the rest of your life. It contains recipes from every category including appetizers, snacks, dips, spreads, brunch, salads, dressings, sandwiches, vegetables, grains, beans, soups, casseroles, tofu, tempeh, pasta, breads, cookies, and desserts.

Not only that, it has basic cooking guides for grains, vegetables, and beans so you can try a variety of techniques and put together your own meals.

It is literally an encyclopedia of cooking and recipes.

Mine is splattered with various batters and sauces because every recipe I have tried has been awesome. Usually, I find only one or two recipes I make more than once from a cookbook, but this book is filled with recipes that will become part of your weekly rotation.

I promise.

When I’m looking for lower calorie fare, I reach for

Appetite for Reduction

by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

What can I say? This girl has it going on. All of her food is so, so good! This book is packed with salads, dressings, hummus, veggies, pasta, soups, and comforting stews and chili. If it sounds plain, it’s because I’m not a good enough writer to properly do it justice. However, let the recipes speak for themselves:

Sanctuary Chef Salad

Green Goddess Garlic Dressing

Catalan Couscous Salad with Pears and Romanesco Dressing

OMG Oven Baked Onion Rings

Butternut Coconut Rice

Garlicky Mushrooms and Kale

Mac and Trees

Lotsa Veggie Lentil Soup

Veggie Potpie Stew

Some of the recipes sound exotic, but they are all simple and are perfect for the weeknight meal rotation. Plus they are filled with whole grains, veggies, beans, and aren’t excessive in fat or calories. I also appreciate that it includes the nutritional stats for each recipe for those who like to keep track of that sort of thing.

If you read the blog with any regularity, you have seen this book pop up from time to time:

VEGAN COOKIES INVADE YOUR COOKIE JAR

It’s because it’s filled with no-fuss cookie recipes that no one would ever guess are vegan. They are real cookies. None of that health food crap pretending to be a classic cookie. It’s fat, sugar, and flour and all your childhood memories mixed together in a bowl and baked until the tears from the realization that adulthood is hard have dried up.

The book I’m looking forward to cooking from:

Betty Goes Vegan

by Betty and Dan Shannon

This book is also an encyclopedia of vegan cookery and I can’t wait to get crackin’. Vegan Betty has a little bit of everything but all 500(!) recipes are inspired from traditional Betty Crocker recipes. It’s a combination of nutritious eats and veganized comfort food classics, and there is a recipe for every occasion including:

Blueberry Banana Bread Pancakes

Mediterranean Salad

Vegan Ranch Dressing

Bean and Cheese Enchiladas

French Toast Biscotti

Pizza Bread

Peanut Butter Egg Cookies

Doughnuts

More Doughnuts

Inside Out Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies

Chocolate Hazlenut Pudding

Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

There are also plenty of recipes for sauces, dressings, pie crusts, puddings, and frostings to add to foods already in your arsenal.

A word of warning: Many of the recipes in the book contain processed vegan meat and cheese replacements. It’s nothing to get in a huff about but don’t get all pissed off at me if you buy the book hoping for 100% whole foods. Remember, its imitating the meat and cheese goddess of the 20th century. And personally, I have no problem having those things on occasion. I try not to make them staples of my diet, but if I’m hankering for pizza, then Daiya cheese just might find its way on top of it. All things in moderation and all that blah, blah, blah.

The book I want but don’t have:

Vegetarian Flavor Bible

I’m depending on this book to make up for my shortcomings as a self-taught home cook and help me put together foods and flavors that go beyond peanutbutter/banana and tomato/basil. I like to experiment but since time, money, and resources are at a premium, I’d sure appreciate not having to throw away a whole cake because I was just so sure it needed two tablespoons of cardamom powder.

And in the things you need to know category:

THIN MINTS ARE NOW VEGAN!

Sure, we could get in a debate about the best tasting Girl Scout Cookie but we all know that there is one cookie that punches every other cookie in it’s sweet, sweet face.

Thin Mints have always been my all-time favorite Girl Scout cookie.

And now those cute, little cookie monsters have made them Vegan.

I shall enjoy them by the sleeve and make sure that each and every tooth is crusted in Thin Mint Cookie crumbs.

I’ll be back at a later undisclosed date and time with more randomness floating around my brain space!

*Note: Some people get compensated for featuring things on their blog. I am not one of those people. This is just a list of stuff I truly, actually like.

Mix until a pliable dough forms (add additional flour by the tablespoon, if needed).

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let chill while you prepare the frosting.

I used a basic buttercream recipe directly from my second favorite book:

For the

Vanilla Whipped Buttercream Frosting:

1/2 cup non-hydrogenated shortening

1/2 cup non-hydrogenated margarine

3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 cup non-dairy milk

Beat the shortening and margarine together until creamy and fluffily. Add in the powdered sugar about 1/4 cup at a time, alternating with a small amount of milk. Add the vanilla and beat until light and fluffy.

Now, put the frosting in the fridge until ready to use.

Remove the cookie dough from the fridge.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Roll tablespoon amount into balls and place in mini-muffin pan.

Press down with your thumb to create the cookie cup.

Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

They will puff up when they bake, but I pressed them back down at about 8 minutes and finished cooking for an additional two minutes.

*Tidbit: It’s better for them to be a touch underdone so the sides do not get too hard. Check them at 8 and 10 minutes.*

Remove from pan and allow to cool.

While they are cooling, prepare your ganache, also taken directly from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

To make the

Chocolate Ganache:

1/4 cup non-dairy milk (I used dark chocolate almond)

4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

In a small saucepan, bring almond milk to a gentle boil. Remove from the heat and add the semi-sweet chocolate and maple syrup. Stir until completely smooth.

To assemble the cookie cups:

Add a small spoonful of the ganache to each cookie up.

Pipe or spoon in buttercream frosting.

Drizzle with additional ganache.

I added a small peppermint stick to half.

I added these cupcake toppers to the other half for the peppermint haters.

Here they are before the competition:

These cookie cups are definitely winners.

I hope you decide to devour some!

In case you’re wondering why I walked my 5k, it’s because there are two people in this photo!

“Where do you think you’re going? Nobody’s leaving. Nobody’s walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We’re all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We’re gonna press on, and we’re gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny fucking Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he’s gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse.”

–Clark Griswold, Christmas Vacation-

Watching Christmas Vacation in this house pretty much signifies that the holiday season is in full swing.

I set out big pot of white bean and spinach soup, maple cinnamon popcorn, and a couple cherry and pomegranate martinis.

Then we slurped, crunched, and sipped our way through all the Griswold shenanigans.

In a perfect Christmas world, I would have a cup of old-fashioned egg nog sloshing around a Marty the Moose glass in one hand, and a big old piece of rich chocolate fudge in the other hand.

So when I was thinking of what to make for the husband’s birthday, it seemed like a terrible idea to have an entire cake seducing us with it’s rich, chocolatey aroma.

Cupcakes seemed like a reasonable alternative for their perfect little portion controlled cakelettes, but the idea of 12 cupcakes lingering on my kitchen counter was enough to make my insulin jump just thinking about it.

So I took a little foray into small batch baking.

And came up with a recipe that makes four svelte servings of chocolate brownie cupcakes.

Not wanting to dirty up an entire cupcake pan, I poured the batter right into four ounce mason jars.

And when they emerged from the oven all cupcake and crackely, I heaped on some brandied cherry topping.

Because I can’t pipe frosting to save my life.

And I can’t make frosting if I use all the powdered sugar practicing my skillz.

SMALL -BATCH BLACK FOREST

BROWNIE CUPCAKES

(Makes 4 cupcakes)

For the cherry topping:

1 (12 oz.) bag of frozen cherries

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons arrowroot starch

1-2 teaspoons brandy

For the cupcakes:

Want a more traditional cupcake? Omit the baking chocolate in the batter.

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

pinch salt

1 oz. baking chocolate, chopped

1 tablespoon canola oil

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup non-dairy milk, warmed

To make the topping:

Cook cherries and sugar over medium heat until heated through.

Add arrowroot starch and boil for one minute.

Remove from heat and stir in brandy.

Transfer to a container and refrigerate until ready to use.

To make the cupcakes:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.

Stir in the chopped chocolate.

Make sure to give the chocolate a good chop. This will make it easier for it to melt into the batter when you add the warm milk.

PEAS OUT!

While I was at dinner last night, I heard the lad at the next table screaming to his dinner guest that he “wanted to go vegetarian but didn’t want to be an inconvenience.”

I wanted to spit my Blueberry Belch Beer in his face.

Your food choices, sir, are not inconvenient.

Your choice to yell them across the bar, however, is.

I think it’s a myth that its difficult to eat a vegetarian, vegan, or plant based diet.

It takes some time, some adjusting, and some pre-planning, but once you’ve set your mind to it, its not difficult to learn to love fruits, vegetables, beans, and grains.

Those are all healthy, veg-friendly foods.

Which leads to the next myth.

The myth that if something is vegan, it’s healthy.

With an ever expanding niche food market, there are plenty of vegan junk foods and many convenience foods that are “accidentally vegan.”

Here’s just a few:

OREOS

Makes you wonder what is exactly in the cream filling, eh?

SMUCKER’S UNCRUSTABLES

This is a surprise because most breads these days contain milk. Check your labels carefully.

DUNCAN HINES’ HOMESTYLE FROSTING

I can make vegan frosting and yet somehow it surprised me that you could buy vegan frosting from a major food company. It shouldn’t be surprising ,though, considering its much cheaper and more shelf stable to use hydrogenated shortening instead of butter.

DEL-MONTE CREAM STYLE CORN

Apparently “Cream Style” has nothing to do with real cream!

NUTTER BUTTERS

My step-dad eats a steady diet of these peanut butter cookies. He’s half-way to being vegan and didn’t even know it!

LICORICE

A lot of candy has gelatin which is not veg-friendly. Licorice does not contain gelatin. Score for the vegans horse hooves.

POTATO CHIPS

It’s not shocking that a potato chip is vegan. It doesn’t mean it’s healthy though.

KRISPY KREME FRUIT PIE

No “kreme” here!

PILLSBURY CRESCENT ROLLS

“Big and Buttery” is plastered across the package and yet, no actual butter in sight!

NON-DAIRY ICE CREAM

Non-dairy ice Cream is one of the foods that people want to believe is healthier if it’s vegan. Its still fat and sugar, people. Eat it but be mindful that 1/2 cup can contain 250 calories and 18 grams of fat which is the equivalent of premium dairy based ice creams.

(Some) NON-DAIRY MILKS

Become a label reader. Some sweetened non-dairy milks contain anywhere from 12-20 grams of sugar. There are 16 grams of sugar in a full tablespoon. It’s something to think about if you’re pouring it over a bowl of frosted flakes (which also happen to be vegan!) every morning.

The good news is that if you’re stuck in a gas station in Kentucky, you can probably find some vegan fare to tide you over. The bad news is that if you choose these foods on a regular basis, you’ll fare no better than your standard junk food junkie.

Choose wisely.

But don’t feel the need to scream your choices across a busy bar.

Nothing ruins a meal quite like the diner who preaches the evils of meat eating over a plate of pot roast.

Save it for the dessert course.

You know, the row of Oreos and Chocolate Soy Milk that you’ll be shoving in your face.

If you do get stuck in a gas station in Kentucky, check out PETA’s full list of “Accidentally Vegan” foods: